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Pictured, l-r, Dr. Pengyu Jia and Dr. Can Qi. with Jay Pennie, Chestnut Hill Rotary President.
Two pediatric surgeons from China visited this week’s Chestnut Hill Rotary Breakfast meeting and spoke about their involvement with a Rotary Medical Training Team, initiated by the Rotary Club of Beijing in 2019. The project, funded by a global grant from Rotary International and several Clubs in China, was delayed several year due to COVID and travel restrictions.
Drs. Can Qi and Pengyu Jia, pediatric urology surgeons from Children’ Hospital of Hebei Province have been studying and observing procedures at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for treating hypospadias, a disorder of male external development.
The grant funded about 50 hypospadias surgeries in rural China and supported the Drs. Qi and Jia to learn from surgeons at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHoP). The first part of the project addressed the immediate dilemma faced by the many rural families whose boys are inflicted with this congenital defect, and the latter is part of the long-term solutions to ease the shortage of qualified hypospadias surgeons facing rural China.
Pictured at the beginning of the visit in April 2025, l to r: Dr. Pengyu Jia; Jay Pennie, President, Rotary Club of Chestnut Hill, Piper Tseng, Rotary Foundation Chair and Joshua Hiller, Rotary Club of Beijing; Dr. Can Qi.
Hypospadias is a disorder of male external genital development in which the opening of the urethra is found on the ventral surface of penis rather than at the tip of the glans. It thus affects the ability of boys to urinate normally and can lead in more severe cases to Hermaphroditism when the sexual organs of either sex are developed. In addition to the medical condition, these children often have psychological issues and are stigmatized by society.
Drs. Can Qi and Pengyu Jia present at the Chestnut Hill Rotary meeting on June 4.
After the brief presentation, the doctors exchanged Rotary banners with President Jay Pennie. The doctors will complete their training at CHOP at the end of the month and take back their knowledge to Children’ Hospital of Hebei Province in China. Rotary International requires that projects must have a sustainability aspect to receive funding.
